FEMA Records
36
Very high volume
North Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Ransom County, ND
36 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 36
- FEMA declarations
- 31
- Major disasters
- 13
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Ransom County. Its 36 FEMA declarations are 39% above the North Dakota county mean and exceed the count for 94% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 13%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 13%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 36
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 148
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records; an EM authorizes a narrower set of federal assistance than a DR.
How does Ransom County compare?
Ransom County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
36 Top 6% higher than 94% of 3,266 counties
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-03
Ransom County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the North Dakota county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Ransom County is led by Cold Wave (about $2.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Ice Storm carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate). EAL and risk score use different inputs; they need not agree.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025 release) - Expected Annual Loss vs composite risk rating by hazard.
What does Ransom County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 148 paid claims, totaling $730.7K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $4.9K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Ransom County's 36 federal records stand 39% above the North Dakota county mean of 25.9. That comparison describes how often federal action was recorded, including any Major Disaster, Emergency, and Fire Management entries shown on this page; it does not convert the count into future probability.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 36 entries for Ransom County, including 31 Major Disaster records, 39% above the North Dakota county mean. Across the 60-year span, that works out to 0.6 declarations a year. Flood leads the file with 18 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's National Risk Index places this county in the low end of the national distribution, composite score 13.2/100 (Very Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $6.5M in annualized losses). Two modifiers shape how that exposure becomes real-world harm here: social vulnerability (Relatively Low) and community resilience (Very High). Among the 18 modeled hazards, Ice Storm carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 3 years here, based on 22 historical events on record.
83 /100
Historical Activity Index
Very High historical activity
Ransom County, ND · PlainHazard-derived composite from federal records
This 0–100 index is an explicit PlainHazard composite from FEMA declaration history only on the county surface (this DB has no county-level NOAA damage row) . It is not FEMA's National Risk Index, not a forecast, and not a safety, insurance, or preparedness rating. Open the calculator · Methodology
FEMA Declarations (1953–present) Very High
26/30
36 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
17/25
36 declarations (1.4x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
31 of 36 declarations are major disasters (86%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Ransom County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. North Dakota Avg
+39%
State avg: 25.9
vs. National Avg
+74%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.6
Over 60 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Ransom County
How to read this radar
Each axis: NRI risk rating (Very Low-Very High) on a 0-100 scale. Rounder = broad exposure; spiky = one or two hazards dominate.
Major Disaster share
86%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
13
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Ransom County?
FEMA's National Risk Index models a historical event count and an annualized frequency for each hazard type. Most hazards are expressed as modeled occurrences per year; FEMA expresses drought and heat-wave frequency as event-days per year. These modeled frequencies are not forecasts.
| Hazard | NRI Risk Rating | Recurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 23 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 17 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,202 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.3 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 0.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 31 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 6,098 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 18
Severe Storm 12
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Ransom County's record, 50% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
Declaration counts describe past federal action. They are a record of what was declared, not a forecast of future hazard probability.
Declaration Types
What DR / EM / FM mean
FEMA categorizes declarations as Major Disasters (DR), Emergencies (EM), or Fire Management Assistance (FM).
Major Disaster - 31 86.1%
of all 36 declarations
Emergency - 5 13.9%
of all 36 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 3 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
Show 12 earlier declaration years
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1970 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1966 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 36 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 36 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4888 | SEVERE STORM, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-09-11 |
| 4760 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Winter Storm | 2024-02-15 |
| 4717 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-07-05 |
| 4686 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Snowstorm | 2023-02-05 |
| 4660 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2022-07-13 |
| 4553 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2020-07-09 |
| 4509 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-01 |
| 3477 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4444 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-12 |
| 1981 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-10 |
| 3318 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2011-04-07 |
| 1907 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-04-30 |
| 3309 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2010-03-14 |
| 1879 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-26 |
| 1829 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-03-24 |
| 1713 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-07-17 |
| 1645 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-06-05 |
| 1621 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-01-04 |
| 3247 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-13 |
| 1597 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-07-22 |
Show 16 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1376 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, & GROUND SATURATION | DR | Flood | 2001-05-28 |
| 1334 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-06-27 |
| 1279 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, SNOW, ICE, GROUND SATURATION, LANSLIDES, MUDSLIDES, AND TOR | DR | Flood | 1999-06-08 |
| 1220 | FLOODING, GROUND SATURATION,SEVERE STORMS | DR | Flood | 1998-06-15 |
| 1174 | SEVERE FLOODING,SEVERE WINTER STORMS, SNOWMELT, SPRING RAINS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1157 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-12 |
| 1118 | SEVERE STORMS,FLOODING, & ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-06-05 |
| 1050 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-05-16 |
| 1001 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-26 |
| 581 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-04-26 |
| 3016 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-07-21 |
| 475 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-07-11 |
| 287 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1970-06-05 |
| 256 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
| 216 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1966-03-23 |
| 195 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-05-10 |
Storm Events in North Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Ransom County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 2,705 | 0 | 2 | $116.1M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 2,459 | 2 | 10 | $67.0M |
| High Wind | 1,184 | 1 | 1 | $2.9M |
| Heavy Snow | 925 | 0 | 3 | $650.0K |
| Blizzard | 905 | 2 | 2 | $60.0M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
148
Total Paid
$730.7K
Avg Per Claim
$4.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 13.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Drought Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Ice Storm
Ice storms load power lines and tree limbs with accumulating freezing rain until they fail. The characteristic cost is infrastructure and multi-day power loss across a wide area rather than structural damage to buildings, which is why their consequences often outlast the weather that caused them.
Worth noting for Ransom County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. That is not a contradiction, the two measure genuinely different things. Declarations record federal ACTION, which requires damage costly enough to exceed state and local capacity; the Risk Index models EXPECTED annual loss across all 18 hazards whether or not any declaration ever followed. A hazard can be the county's largest modeled exposure and never once have driven a declaration.
National Risk Index ratings are modeled estimates of expected annual loss, not predictions of what will happen in any given year.
Data-matched county comparisons
Ransom County's closest FEMA peer: Tillman County, OK
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Ransom County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Ransom County shows 36 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Ransom County: 31 of 36 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Ransom County: NRI composite 13.2 (Very Low).
How these peers are chosen
Cohort: Published U.S. county equivalents outside the source state or territory. Each metric keeps six ETL candidates; three unique destinations are shown after de-duplicating across axes. Declaration-volume ranking combines count and Major-disaster share and prefers a different leading incident type; Major-share ranks the Major fraction adjusted for volume; NRI ranks the modeled composite score only.
Retained FEMA snapshot feed for Ransom County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Ransom County's NFIP claims file (148 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
More PlainHazard guides
- Most disaster-prone counties - U.S. counties ranked by FEMA declaration totals.
- Understanding disaster data - declarations vs storm events vs NRI scores.
- Preparing for natural disasters - household checklist (not county-specific advice).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Ransom County?
The most common disaster type in Ransom County is Flood, with 18 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (12), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Ransom County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Dakota average?
FEMA lists 36 declaration records for Ransom County. That is 39% above the North Dakota county mean of 25.9. Its count is also 74% above the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Ransom County received?
Ransom County has received 31 major disaster declarations, representing 86% of all 36 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Ransom County filed?
Ransom County has 148 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $730.7K in payments, with an average of $4.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Ransom County?
No. In Ransom County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Ransom County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Ransom County was 2010, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Ransom County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Ransom County, North Dakota has an overall risk score of 13.2 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $6.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Ransom County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Ransom County is Ice Storm (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively Moderate) and Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at roughly once every 3 years, drawn from 22 historical events on record. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against exposed assets and community vulnerability.
Data Sources & Methodology
Disaster declaration data comes from the FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 API, which includes all federally declared disasters, emergencies, and fire management assistance grants.
Storm event data is sourced from the NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025), which tracks significant weather events including thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, and winter storms.
Flood insurance data comes from the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA claims dataset.
This data is provided for informational purposes only. FEMA disaster declarations represent federal response actions and may not capture all local emergencies or weather events.
What this means for Ransom County
Ransom County, ND has 36 federal declaration records, 39% more than the North Dakota county mean of 26; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 31 of 36 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. North Dakota overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the North Dakota mean and the totals for 94% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.